Razor blade dispensers



March 26, 1963 Filed June 27, 1958 m I I// I I i J. W. NICHOLSON ETALRAZOR BLADE DISPENSERS 2 Sheets-Sheet l 2O 54 INVENTQRS FIE/Z1V/ZQf/cho/san 0 /7 dj fief' I A'r'romqav March 26, 1963 J. w. NICHOLSONET AL RAZOR BLADE DISPENSERS 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed June 27, 1958 //O//4 LL? I30 FIGS.

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United rates atent 3,682,862 RAZGR BLADE DISPENSERS John W. Nicholson,London, and .liohn F. Kayser, Harrow-on-the-Hiil, England Filed dune 27,I958, Ser. No. 745,056 Claims priority, application Great Britain June28, 1957 Claims. (Cl. file-16) The present invention relates tomagazines for unwrapped razor blades. The invention can be applied withadvantage to magazines from which the blades can be dispensedindividually as required.

The invention is particularly but not exclusively applicable tomagazines for holding blades having two cutting edges and a mediallongitudinal slot closed by a transverse web at each end of the blade.The magazine, when used as a blade dispenser, can be arranged to allowthe blades to be discharged therefrom in alternately oppositedirections, the magazine then having a base from which extend upwardlyat least two longitudinally disposed blade-locating projections,tongues, studs or the like each extending through the mediallongitudinal slots of alternate blades. The magazine may incorporate acompartment for receiving discarded blades and this compartment may beseparated from the compartment for unused blades by a movable platform.

In such magazines it is necessary to make provision for holding thestack of blades between surfaces of which one is yielding. There arevarious reasons for this requirement. In the first place, the stack ofblades must be held so as not to rattle in the magazine, despite thefact that the height of the stack will diminish as the blades are used.It is also necessary to hold the stack so as to eliminate any undesiredturning or other movement about the locating projections which wouldcause damage to the cutting edges. Again, it is usually necessary ordesirable to position the stack of blades vertically so as to maintainthe blades in alignment with the unit or units in the magazine throughwhich the blades are discharged.

It has hitherto been found necessary to employ for this purpose springmeans either formed integrally with, for example, the sheet metal coverof the magazine or formed by a separate metal member. The use of aseparate metal spring member is expensive and involves an additionalstep in the dispenser loading process as well as requiring the magazinegenerally to be constructed of material, such as sheet metal or plastic,sufiiciently strong to withstand the internal spring pressure. Suchmaterials are not normally suitable for the printing or reproduction oftrademarks or other necessary commercial material so that the cost ofthis type of magazine is usually increased by the necessity of packingthe magazine in a printed outer cardboard container.

The present invention comprises the use, in a megazine for unwrappedrazor blades, of a synthetic sponge material, to provide the springmeans for one or more of the above purposes. The material used is ofafinely cellular nature, and is sometimes identified as foamed plastic.Additionally, the sponge material can be used to protect the blades, byexcluding dust and/or by serving as a support for an anti-corrosionmedium, with which it can be impregnated. Such media are often volatile,and the length of time for which protection is afforded depends in partupon the quantity of the medium used; the sponge plastic will hold arelatively large quantity of the medium if desired.

Magazines of the type described have the further disadvantage that theedges of the unwrapped blades have to be kept spaced from contact withany part of the magazine, to avoid damage to them during storage orduring the process of ejection.

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It has been found that certain plastic sponge material, such as foamedpolyurethane, if brought into contact with safety razor blade edges willnot, unlike most materials, damage the blade edge when the latter isdrawn across it, so that this material can be arranged in the magazinein direct contact with the edges of the blades.

Thereby, the substitution of such plastic sponge material for themetallic spring means commonly employed in razor blade dispensingmagazines, avoids thenecessity for a rigid magazine construction andthereby enables such magazines to be constructed of cardboard, or othersuitable material which is not only intrinsically cheaper but, beingmore suitable for printing, obviates the necessity of an outer carton incommercial use.

Other features and advantages of the invention will appear from thefollowing description of embodiments thereof, given by way of example,in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIGURE 1 is a plan view of a first embodiment the invention;

FIGURE 2 is a plan view of the body portion of the same embodiment ofthe invention, the outer sleeve being removed;

FIGURE 3 is a longitudinal sectional view of the same embodiment, takenon the line 3-3 of FIGUREl;

FIGURE 4 is a side view of the body portion only;

FIGURE 5 is a transverse sectional view on the line 5-5 of FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 6 is a plan view of a further embodiment of the invention;

FIGURE 7 is a plan view of the body portion of the embodiment of FIGURE6 but with the cover removed;

FIGURE 8 is a longitudinal section on the line 8-8 of FIGURE 6;

I 1tl10 of FIGURE 6;

FIGURE 11 is a view of a modified form of the invention shown in FIGURE1; and

FIGURE 12 is a transverse sectional View on the line ll2l2 of FIGURE 11.i

The embodiment of the invention shown in FIGURES 1 to 5 consists of abody portion indicated generally at 10, housed within an outer sleeve11. The body portion 10 is formed as a rectangular, one piece mouldingof plastic material such as a synthetic resin. This body portionpresents a central main flat platform 12 on which unwrapped blades, of ashape indicated at 13, are supported. The blades are of the kind havingcutting edges 14, 15 and a medial longitudinal slot 16 closed bytransverse webs I7, 18 at its ends.

From the platform 12 extend upwardly two spaced blade locating ribs 20,21; as shown in FIGURES 3 and 4, these ribs have an upper surface whichat the inner ends is smoothly inclined at 22, 23 down to the level ofthe platform :12, these surfaces terminating at their outer ends inabrupt vertical shoulders 24, 25. To ensure that the junction of theinner ends of the surfaces of the ribs and the surface of the platform12 shall be completely free of any projection, small recesses 26 and 27are formed at these points.

Beyond the ends of platform 12 the body is formed with two upwardlyinclined surfaces 30, 31 from which extend two spaced ramps 32, 33 fromthe surface 30' and two ings 36, 37 of the sleeve .11. When the magazineas described is in use, the uppermost blade, such as 13, within themagazine is engaged by the thumb of the user for which reason the sleeve11 has in its upper major surface an aperture 38. The blade is pushedlongitudinally from the body; in the case of the blade located as shownat 13, this movement will be to the left.

When the blade is so moved, the shoulders 40, 41 at the left hand end ofblade 13 will engage respectively the ramps 32, 33, and thereby theleading edge of the blade will be guided smoothly toward the exit 36. Ofthe blades in the magazine, that next the uppermost will be disposedwi-th the transverse web 17 lying outside the rib 21; the successiveblades are arranged alternately in this way. It will be appreciated thatthe blades held in this way are located transversely by one or other ofthe ribs 20, 21, so to protect the cutting edges of the blade againstdamage by contact with any of the inner surfaces of the magazine.

The blades must, however, be held downwardly upon the ribs, and to thisend between the blade stack and the underside of the upper part of thesleeve, adjacent the thumb aperture, there are provided a plurality ofplastic sponge members 50, 5'1, 52, 53 or alternatively a continuoussurround of plastic sponge material, which depresses the blades in thestack and holds them securely on the ribs. If the plastic spongematerial is a foamed polyurethane, for example polyester isocyanate, itcan be arranged so as to contact the edges of at least the uppermostblades in the blade stack (and preferably to overlap the edges of allthe blades in the stack) throughout their entire length (FIGS. 11 and 12Alternatively the material can be arranged in such a way as to give therequired protection to the blade edges against the ingress of dust,moisture or other sources of corrosion. For example, if the sponge padscover the underside of the top part of the sleeve, excluding opening 38,the blades are largely protected in this way.

In addition to any anti-corrosion oil or other media applied to theblades, the plastic sponge material may be impregnated with such media;not all the available anticorrosion media are useable, as some affectthe sponge plastic material, and the medium must be chosen accordingly.The dimensions of the magazine and the thickness of the plastic spongematerial are so arranged in relation to the thickness of the blade stackthat the plastic sponge material will remain in compression until thelast blade has been ejected from the magazine. For convenience ofloading the plastic sponge material may either be attached to theunderside of the upper part of the sleeve, or it may be loadedseparately on top of the blade stack.

The magazine can also be formed to provide a receptacle for used blades.Thus the underside of body is formed with a rectangular recess 54, andtwo slots 55 and 56 are located in the bottom partof sleeve 11. Usedblades can be inserted lengthwise through either slot, and lodged in therecess.

A second form of the invention is shown in FIGURES 6 to 10. In thisembodiment there is provided a magazine formed in two parts, a base part110 and a cover 111. These parts are conveniently formed of a mouldedsynthetic resin, and the two parts are held together by a series ofsmall recesses 112 formed on the lower part of the vertical longer edgesof the base, co-operating with small projections 113 formed on the wallsof the cover 111. The. material of the cover is sufliciently flexible toallow the projections 113 to be snapped into the recesses.

The floor of the base 110 is generally fiat, but with two upwardlyprojecting ribs 114, 115 which, like ribs and 21 described above, areused to engage the medial slots of the blades in the magazine andthereby locate and guide them, so as to prevent damage to the cuttingedges. The blades are arranged alternately on the two ribs, also as,described above.

The floor of the base of the magazine has over it a thin sheet 116 ofsponge plastic material, having in it slits through which pass the ribs114, 115. This sponge materialserves to press the stack of bladesupwardly so that the topmost blade bears against the tips of .rfourprojections H7, 118, 119, 120 formed on the cover. The

projections have a height such that when the top blade bears againstthem, the blade is still guided by the one of the two ribs; the topblade can be moved, by the thumb of the user inserted through a centralaperture 121 in the cover. The blade can then be moved longitudinally,to pass through one of two blade exits 122, 123 formed between the edgesof the adjacent ends of the base and cover 111.

In this movement the blade will be guided by rib 114 or 115 until theleading edge of the rib strikes one of two downwardly projecting ramps124, which initially guides the edge of the blade and directs it throughthe exit. Subsequently, the ramp passes into the slot, and so continuesto guide the blade.

When the transverse end of the slot reaches the end of rib 124 or 125,it engages one of the sloping surfaces 126, or 127 formed on the uppersurfaces of the ribs and passes smoothly over the top of the respectiverib.

The magazine can also be used as a receptacle for used blades. The base110 has in it slots 130, 131, giving access to the space beneath thesponge plastic sheet 116, and through which a blade can be insertedendwise. To facilitate the insertion of the blade the edges of the slotsare tapered at 132, 133 and once inserted the blade is trapped byturned-over parts 134, 135 on the ribs 114, 115.

In a modification of the construction first described above as shown inFIGS. lland 12, the body portion 10, as well as the cover portion 11, ofthe magazine is constructed of cardboard, so as to facilitate cheapnessan unitary construction. In this embodiment the card board base or bodyportion is provided with tongues 20a cut out therefrom which projectupwards and outwards the blade exits at each end of the magazine, insubstitution for the blade-locating ribs. These tongues serve to anchorthe blades from longitudinal displacement towards the wrong exit but donothing to prevent lateral displacement. In this embodiment thereforethe plastic sponge material 50a is arranged to bear against the sides aswell as the top of the blade stack in order to prevent lateraldisplacement of the blades either during storage or during the processof ejection.

The above examples are not intended to limit the scope of the invention,which is clearly applicable to any form of magazine for unwrappedblades, whether such magazine has provision for unavoidably dispensingthe blades or not.

What we claim is:

l. A magazine for unwrapped razor blades comprising a casing, a stack ofblades in said casing, said casing having therein an exit from whichsaid blades are adapted to be discharged longitudinally one at a timefrom one end of said stack, said casing having therein an aperture topermit access to one of the outermost blades of the stack by the user,thereby to permit that blade to be propelled towards said exit, locatingmeans including a part on said casing adapted to engage directly one ofthe outermost blades of the stack, and at least one member of resilientsponge plastic material under compression disposed between said stackand a further part of said casing, said sponge material directlyengaging said blades and overlying at least one cutting edge of theblades so as to be sheared thereby as the blade is dispensed.

2. In a razor blade magazine, a stack of unwrapped razor blades andcompressed resilient sponge plastic material interposed between thecasing and one end of said stack and in engagement with at least onecutting edge of a blade throughout a substantial portionof its lengththereby to guide it laterally in its movement from thecasing and besheared thereby.

3. In a razor blade magazine, a stack of unwrapped razor blades,compressed resilient sponge plastic material interposed between thecasing and one end of said stack,

said material consisting effegtively of foamed absorbent polyurethaneand being in engagement with at least one cutting edge of a bladethroughout a substantial portion of its length thereby to guide itlaterally in its movement from the casing and be sheared thereby, and ananticorrosive medium retained within said material.

4. In a razor blade magazine having an exit opening, a stack ofunwrapped razor blades and sponge plastic material within said casingoverlying and engaging at least one cutting edge of a blade throughout asubstantial portion of its length so as to be sheared thereby as theblade is discharged longitudinally through said opening.

5. In a razor blade magazine having an exit opening, a stack ofunwrapped razor blades, absorbent sponge plastic material within saidcasing overlying and engaging at least one cutting edge of a bladethroughout a substantial portion of its length so as to be shearedthereby as the blade is discharged longitudinally through said opening,an an anticorrosive medium retained within said material.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS1,733,971 Kremer Oct. 29, 1929 1,935,311 Cook Nov. 14, 1933 2,457,364Gluckman Dec. 28, 1948 2,630,625 Kleinmann Mar. 10, 1953 2,671,555Slinitzler Mar. 9, 1954 2,692,674 Shnitzler Oct. 26, 1954 2,704,153Florman Mar. 15, 1955 2,707,551 Shnitzler et al. May 3, 1955 2,780,350Simon Feb. 5, 1957

2. IN A RAZOR BLADE MAGAZINE, A STACK OF UNWRAPPED RAZOR BLADES ANDCOMPRESSED RESILIENT SPONGE PLASTIC MATERIAL INTERPOSED BETWEEN THECASING AND ONE END OF SAID STACK AND IN ENGAGEMENT WITH AT LEAST ONECUTTING EDGE OF A BLADE THROUGHOUT A SUBSTANTIAL PORTION OF ITS LENGTHTHEREBY TO GUIDE IT LATERALLY IN ITS MOVEMENT FROM THE CASING AND BESHEARED THEREBY.